Why This Music Icon Will Tell His Story Through Lego
By Movieguide® Contributor
Music icon Pharrell Williams wants to inspire audiences of all ages with his story, which is why he is releasing a biopic about his life in the form of a Lego brick animation.
“That’s what impossible looks and sounds like…” Pharrell told The Hollywood Reporter when discussing why he partnered with Lego for the movie. “I wasn’t interested in my story, but only until I realized the most fun part and the most integral part of it all was getting over my ego.”
“[The story is] something that appears and pierces through my own insecurities, my flaws, my opinions, my considerations and just into my soul’s purpose on the planet,” the singer added.
While Lego is not typically thought of as a powerhouse when it comes to digital media, the company has begun to branch out in recent years. After finding massive success in THE LEGO MOVIE and THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE, Lego partnered with Disney to create a series of short episodes that centered around beloved characters like Nemo and Lightning McQueen earlier this year.
Making stories more accessible has become a focus of the brand which recognizes that the Lego animation style is something that draws both younger and older audiences.
“[Pharrell] just has so many different dimensions of culture, which he taps in to express his ideas, his experiences, his identity, and we felt like that was a really great conduit to kind of help inspire kids and families as well,” Lego vp, global brand development Alero Akuya told The Hollywood Reporter about the collab.
“Pharrell specifically said that Lego bricks are a great universal tool in which anyone can understand a story because you have many figures which represent people, and of course brick by brick and the system itself, which can be built into anything,” she added. “Using it as a medium to tell his story for him felt like a no-brainer, but it’s something that can resonate with all ages.”
Pharrell’s biopic, BRICK BY BRICK, hits theaters on Oct. 11.
Movieguide® previously reported about Lego:
Ten years after the release of THE LEGO MOVIE, Lego’s head of global entertainment, Jill Wilfert, is opening up about its origins.
“It’s quite interesting, our road to THE LEGO MOVIE, and it was a fairly long road,” Wilfert told Variety last month. “We were not actively looking to get into the film business so when we were approached I was interested, of course. But the first reaction we had was, what would that [movie] be?”
Lego believed it critical that the story felt “authentic” and in line with their brand.
“So the first task we sent them back with was: ‘Maybe we would consider doing this, but you need to come with a story that we feel resonates and really is true to our brand.’ That was kind of the starting point,” Wilfert said.